Solana, the Layer 1 blockchain competitor to Ethereum, took the market by storm in 2021 ending the year in the top 10 cryptos by market cap and leap-frogging some big names in the space such as Cardano, Polkadot and Polygon. Given its lightning-fast transaction speeds, low cost and rapidly expanding ecosystem, Solana is attracting considerable developer interest from the gaming sector which many claim is the crucial link between crypto and mainstream adoption. So, let’s take a look at the top Solana gaming coins.
Star Atlas (ATLAS)
Arguably the most hyped of the Solana gaming coins is Star Atlas. Launched in September, 2021 Star Atlas is a virtual gaming metaverse based in the year 2620. Players are faction citizens that have the ability to influence intergalactic conflicts and receive rewards for their contributions.
ATLAS is the native token for the ecosystem and players can buy and sell in-game NFT assets in the Galactic Marketplace. There’s also the POLIS governance token which provides for jurisdictional voting rights and wields political influence in the ecosystem.
Star Atlas released an extremely cool trailer in October, 2021 featuring cinematic style graphics. However, achieving this visual standard for AAA game play will not be easy. This typically takes several years of development and costs millions of dollars to produce.
The Star Atlas project is certainly ambitious but they have the potential to be an absolute beast in the space if they can execute their plans. They’ve recruited some amazing talent and have some big backers onboard such as Serum and Animoca Brands who recently committed to purchasing $3 million of Star Atlas NFT Spaceships.
Sam Bankman-Fried, co-founder of the Solana and Serum projects, and current CEO of the FTX exchange had this to say about the project prior to the token launch.
Aurory (AURY)
Aurory was launched in October, 2021 and aims to be one of the first AAA games on Solana, using similar play-to-earn style game mechanics that have made games like Axie Infinity enormously successful.
Aurory is a fantasy action, play-to-earn Japanese style role playing game, set in two futuristic worlds called Antik and Cryptos. Users explore these environments and play-catch-earn, one could say like a next generation Pokémon game. Players can earn tokens ($AURY) and NFTs by playing the game, which can then be sold on exchanges or used to buy items in the marketplace and improve their chances of success. Check out the trailer that they released a few months ago here.
Aurory has assembled an incredible team of over 30 animators, artists and developers who have previous experience working with AAA teams such as Electronic Arts and Ubisoft. They also have an impressive list of investors including Alameda Research and Animoca Brands.
Aside from the play-to-earn gaming crowd, Aurory also aims to attract DeFi enthusiasts by offering staking and NFT collateralisation services. Users can currently stake AURY tokens directly on their website and earn between 34% and 68% APR (varies due to locking period chosen).
CryoWar (CWAR)
Cryowar was launched in November, 2021 and has been several years in development. It is a real-time NFT, multiplayer PVP (Player versus Player) arena game developed using Unreal Engine. Players engage in fierce multi-realm battles in this…
